Omar, Abbas still under house arrest in JK

Srinagar, Nov 23: Chairman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference (HC) Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and former head of amalgam Moulana Abbas Ansari and other separatists leaders were put under house to prevent them from joining the Ganderbal chalo march, called by the Coordination Committee (CC), spearheading the anti-poll campaign.

Moulana Abbas, a shia leader who also heads the Itehad-ul- Muslimeen, told the sources that he was informed again this morning that he will not be allowed to leave his house.

''I do not remember when I was allowed to move freely by the security force personnel deployed outside my house,'' he said.

He alleged that besides putting behind bars without any justification almost all separatist leadership, including senior leaders of both the factions of the HC and hundreds of second rank leaders, the government had also clamped curfew in the entire valley despite the fact that polling was being held in only two assembly segments of Ganderbal and Kangan.

Mr Abbas said Mirwaiz Omar also remained under house arrest for the past several weeks.

Mirwaiz, I and other separatist leaders were not allowed to offer Friday prayers in the mosques, Moulana Abbas said, adding for the first time no prayers were held in the historic Jamia masjid.

The former chairman of the HC alleged intelligence agencies spent huge amount to put more candidates in the election fray to give an impression that people were interested in elections.

He further alleged that sponsored elelection or selection will not help to restore peace in the sub-continent. Even the pro-India parties have admitted that elections will not help to resolve the Kashmir issue, he said.

More than 100 separatist leaders, including Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Mohammad Yaseen Malik, Aiyaz Akbar, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Dukhtaran-e-Milat chief Asiya Andrabi, two acting chairmen of breakaway HC and Saleem Geelani have already been arrested during the past four months. Majority of them have been booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).

UNI